Work Flow Experience in the Light of Leader-Member Exchange and Person-Job Fit Theories

Abstract

Based on the positive psychology approach, the present study claims that Leader-Member Exchange Theory and Person-Job Fit Theory could be significant antecedents of flow experience in the workplace, as individuals living in the 21st century spend most of their lives at work. Flow experience is a source of high motivation for employees in terms of both cognitive and emotional functions. Therefore, the concept can cause many psychological states of well-being, such as having fun, feeling happy, or optimism. For this reason, it is quite important for the organizational behavior discipline to define the concept in detail and to focus on possible antecedents. In accordance with this purpose, a cross-sectional research study has been performed in Turkey with the participation of 711 white-collar employees from various companies in the service sector in Istanbul, Turkey. The findings of the research show that high quality manager–employee relationships had significant positive impacts on employees’ flow experience (β = 0,801; t = 35,664; p = ,000). In addition, a good match between person and job had significant positive impacts on employees’ flow experience (β = 0,559; t = 17,968; p = ,000). Thus, the proposed hypothesis 1 and hypothesis 2 of the study were supported. The results indicated that leader-member exchange and person-job fit are antecedents of flow experience in the workplace (p < 0,05). In the present study, all study variables are reviewed and the possible relationships among the study variables are discussed in the literature review part. Finally, the implications of the study for both the individual and the organization are presented in the conclusion and discussion section.

Work-Related Flow in Career Sustainability

“…Yet, Bakker defined work-related flow as a short-term peak experience, differing from Csikszentmihalyi, who studied it as a continuing experience relevant to career sustainability. This interpretation of worked-related flow by Bakker [18] is based on the Ryan and Deci understanding of self-determination theory [19], one that represents an alternative explication that has been referenced by several authors as their basis of understanding flow [6,20,21], but not by Csikszentmihalyi.…”

“…The individual works of Bakker concerning his body of research on flow [17,18,[40][41][42]] have been referenced concomitantly with the work of Csikszentmihalyi by others studying work-related flow [6,20,21] as if these two authors' interpretation of flow were identical. Only one study has noted the problems inherent in this type of identification [15].…”

Person‐organization fit and turnover intention: The mediating role of need‐supply fit and demand‐ability fit

“…Accordingly, a close fit between employees' skills and competencies and job requirements makes employees more satisfied and enhances their compatibility with the resources of the job (Jiang et al, 2022). Third, fit theories and research elaborate that when employees' characteristics do not fit those of the job (e.g., demand-ability misfit and need-supply misfit), they experience stress, anxiety, low organization commitment and develop quit intention (Andela & van der Doef, 2019;Aydin Kucuk, 2022;Guo et al, 2022;Vogel & Feldman, 2009). Thus, based on the related literature, we hypothesize: H4: Demands-ability fit is negatively related to turnover intention.…”

“…The congruence of job demands with a person's KSAs is known as demand‐ability fit, while the congruence between job resources (e.g., pay, benefits, training, promotion, and growth opportunities) and individual psychological needs, desires, and preferences are termed as need‐supply fit (Kakar et al., 2022; Pattanawit & Charoensukmongkol, 2022). In the literature, most of the studies have used person‐job fit as a single construct featuring the characteristics of need‐supply fit and demand‐ability fit (Aydin Kucuk, 2022; Kakar et al., 2022). Recently, there has been a push to explore the sub‐components of PJF (Kakar, Kruger, et al., 2022; Yu, 2016), because both components reflect different aspects of the job and may have a varied impact on employees' attitudes.…”

“…Need‐supply fit and demand‐ability fit can be linked to turnover intention because of the following reasons. First, when employees believe that their abilities, skills, competencies, needs, and preferences are well‐matched with the job resources and demands, they feel committed to the organization and satisfy with the job (Aydin Kucuk, 2022; Genç, 2022; Vogel & Feldman, 2009). To and Huang (2022) mentioned that satisfied and committed employees often stay with the organization and are less likely to quit.…”